Review of Old Man's War

Author:  John Scalzi.
Title:  Old Man's War.
Publisher:  Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Copyright:  1/2/2007 (mass market paperback)
Pages:  368.
Price:  $7.99 (US).

Overview:
This is more a friend's recommendation than anything else.  There is an entire series of Old Man's War stories.  The premise is simple.  Humanity is at war with the rest of the galaxy.  The Colonial Defense Forces recruits senior citizens to become 25 year old soldiers again in order to fight humanity's wars on the frontier.

This has been going for over 200 years.  And humanity is only on the periphery of the conflicts.  If a soldier survives a ten year commitment, they get to settle on one of the frontier worlds.  Recruiting soldiers from the nursing homes and giving them new bodies is a cool premise.  The whole service thing in return is also very Heileineques.

But be forewarned, this novel is filled with gratuitous sex and unadulterated violence.  It's one of the reasons I'm turned off to it.  Also, the descriptions of the aliens could stand some more work.  People either love or hate Scalzi's work.

This book is recommended by my friend, Brian.  He normally won't touch anything from the Black Library except for Space Wolves novels.  He's also into Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.  But I don't like Ender's Game, either.